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By Lyle Fitzsimmons - No one questions that Ed Levine is a successful guy.
After earning a Syracuse University law degree and spending a long professional career wrestling with the legalities of South Florida real estate, the native New Yorker settled down in Coral Gables to begin an only slightly less harrowing existence – as president of a fledgling boxing sanctioning body.
And while the jury remains out on the overall long-term traction to be gained by his pet project – the International Boxing Organization – one of the secondary talents he’s demonstrated in a decade-plus as its sun-tanned czar is a pretty fair ability to discover diamonds in the rough.
The latest indication of that acumen came Friday night in Sunrise, Fla., where unbeaten Russian Khabib Allakhverdiev made the first defense of his IBO title at 140 pounds via bruising decision over Joan Guzman, in a fight limited to seven-plus rounds after the previously unbeaten two-division belt-holder was rendered immobile with a left knee injury.
The conclusion – which saw Guzman writhing on the canvas in obvious discomfort – was at least a symbolic continuation of the previous 21 minutes of actual ring combat, most of which had seen the 36-year-old Dominican handed a systematic and bloody, if not completely one-sided, beating by a little-known 29-year-old making only his ninth stateside appearance in just his 18th pro fight. [Click Here To Read More]
After earning a Syracuse University law degree and spending a long professional career wrestling with the legalities of South Florida real estate, the native New Yorker settled down in Coral Gables to begin an only slightly less harrowing existence – as president of a fledgling boxing sanctioning body.
And while the jury remains out on the overall long-term traction to be gained by his pet project – the International Boxing Organization – one of the secondary talents he’s demonstrated in a decade-plus as its sun-tanned czar is a pretty fair ability to discover diamonds in the rough.
The latest indication of that acumen came Friday night in Sunrise, Fla., where unbeaten Russian Khabib Allakhverdiev made the first defense of his IBO title at 140 pounds via bruising decision over Joan Guzman, in a fight limited to seven-plus rounds after the previously unbeaten two-division belt-holder was rendered immobile with a left knee injury.
The conclusion – which saw Guzman writhing on the canvas in obvious discomfort – was at least a symbolic continuation of the previous 21 minutes of actual ring combat, most of which had seen the 36-year-old Dominican handed a systematic and bloody, if not completely one-sided, beating by a little-known 29-year-old making only his ninth stateside appearance in just his 18th pro fight. [Click Here To Read More]